US Embassy warns of 'credible' mass-casualty threat at Moscow's Tsaritsyno museum; FSB confirms the warning and the park is closed
The US Embassy in Moscow warned on Saturday, 31 October, of a "credible threat of a mass casualty event" that same day at the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve in the south of the city and told Americans to stay away. Russia's FSB security service said it had received information from the US about preparations for a terrorist attack in Moscow and was acting on it. The museum park was closed and visitors were evacuated; no incident or casualties had been reported by Saturday evening.
The alert, posted on the embassy's X account at 17:04 Moscow time (16:04 in Bucharest), said the embassy was "aware of a credible threat of a mass casualty event TODAY October 31" at the museum-reserve on Dolskaya Street and that the US government was "coordinating with appropriate Russian authorities on a response". It advised US citizens to avoid the site and the surrounding area for the day, stay alert, avoid crowds, keep their phones charged, carry identification and follow local media. The embassy did not say what kind of threat it was or where the information came from.
About an hour later, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) told state news agencies that it had received information "from the American side", through partner channels, about preparations for a terrorist attack in Moscow, and that "appropriate work" was under way. RIA Novosti, citing law enforcement, then reported that the museum-reserve had been temporarily closed and that there was no access to the park, while a source in the emergency services told TASS it was shut "in connection with operational measures". Earlier in the afternoon, a museum representative had told the Telegram channel Mash that staff had no information about a threat and that the site was operating normally.
Russian media reported that visitors were evacuated, including the audience of a nearly full organ concert in the atrium of the Bread House, which was stopped about ten minutes before the end, and that another concert planned for Saturday was cancelled. Police, National Guard units, dog handlers and a bomb-disposal team were sent to the site, and checkpoints were set up on the roads leading to it. As of Saturday evening, no incident or casualties had been reported, and no date had been given for the museum to reopen.
Tsaritsyno, a palace and park complex begun for Empress Catherine the Great in the 18th century, covers more than 400 hectares in southern Moscow and is one of the city's most popular places for a walk. The US Embassy publicly warned of possible attacks on large gatherings in Moscow in early March 2024; on 22 March that year gunmen attacked the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside the capital, killing 145 people. Russian officials later said the US information had been too general.